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Wal-Mart pledges $5-million to hospital

In return, All Children's Hospital will name the emergency center of its new hospital after the retailer.

By LISA GREENE
Published March 4, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - In return for the largest pledged gift in its history, All Children's Hospital will name the emergency center of its new hospital after an unusual source: corporate giant Wal-Mart.

That means future generations of Tampa Bay area children will get their broken bones set in the Wal-Mart & SAM'S CLUB Emergency Center.

Wal-Mart has long been a major fundraiser for All Children's. But Thursday's $5-million pledge makes its charity efforts more visible at a time when its sprawling stores and employee policies have been under attack nationally and in the Tampa Bay area.

"I think it's important that the community sees that the dollars go back into your community," said Melissa O'Brien, spokeswoman for the Bentonville, Ark.-based company. "Some folks have said those dollars go back to Bentonville, and that's not true."

Most of the money will come not from corporate Wal-Mart, but from individual fundraisers at the roughly 80 Wal-Marts, Sam's Clubs and distribution centers in a 16-county area stretching from Citrus to Collier counties.

Fundraisers include an annual walk-a-thon and concession sales in the parking lot. The most entertaining focus on humiliation of store managers: managers "jailed," stranded on the roof and shrink-wrapped to a store support pole until money is raised.

A Clearwater store held a fashion show, with cross-dressing models carrying open purses to raise cash from customers. A Pinellas Park store transformed its manager into a "human hot dog," selling $5 bottles of ketchup, mustard and relish along with squirting privileges.

Being linked to a store famous for always low prices doesn't worry Gary Carnes, All Children's president and chief executive.

"We look at it as the work of a lot of good people," he said. "Wal-Mart is part of the fabric of America. I don't think anyone looks negatively on Wal-Mart."

But Wal-Mart has been criticized nationally for paying employees too little to afford health insurance. The company says that's not true, and that it offers health benefits for as little as $35 per month.

As stores sprout across the nation, more communities have protested their arrival. In Pinellas County, local residents bitterly fought a store coming to Tarpon Springs. A new store proposed on Gandy Boulevard in north St. Petersburg and a plan to expand one in the Tyrone area of west St. Petersburg also have been met with opposition.

O'Brien said Thursday's announcement was made to help All Children's, not to dampen criticism. After all, area Wal-Marts already have raised more than $6.5-million for All Children's since 1988, including a pediatric oncology chair shared between All Children's and the University of South Florida. Across the country, Wal-Mart has raised more than $300-million over the past 18 years for children's hospitals.

Still, Wal-Mart has decided to be more public about its charitable giving, as part of an overall decision to be "more of a transparent company," O'Brien said.

"We never, as a culture of our company, really talked about it," O'Brien said of Wal-Mart's charity work. "In 2004, we were the largest cash-giving company in the U.S. A lot of people don't know that because we haven't talked about it."

A preliminary drawing calls for a plaque on the lobby wall reading, "Emergency Center generously donated by Wal-Mart/Sam's Club." If regulations allow, the name also will go on the outside entrance, said Joel Momberg, executive vice president of All Children's foundation.

Local members of Wal-Mart's advisory board met recently to discuss what they could do for the $270-million new hospital, which All Children's is building down the street from its current facility. All Children's gave them a $72-million list of "naming opportunities," Momberg said, and the group picked one of the biggest, the emergency center.

The board liked that idea because children across its 16-county area are most likely to come to All Children's in an emergency, Momberg said. The $5-million tab roughly covers the construction cost.

Wal-Mart employees handed over a check Thursday for $731,000, the first payment on the pledge. A similar donation next month will bring the total above $1.3-million, O'Brien said. The stores will raise the rest over five years, with Wal-Mart's corporate offices donating up to $80,000 each year.

Employees are motivated to raise money for All Children's, said Barbara Scouras, personnel manager at the Pinellas Park Wal-Mart that raised more than $20,000 for All Children's last year.

"As a mother, I could not ask for anything more than knowing there is a state-of-the-art facility here if she ever needs it," Scouras said.

With her daughter being a student in Tarpon Springs, Scouras has heard plenty about the fight over bringing Wal-Mart there. She hopes the emergency center will give Wal-Mart's charity work a higher profile.

"When we started doing fundraising, we never said we did anything," she said. "Which is why we're maybe not welcome everywhere ... I'm so glad the (Wal-Mart) foundation is making it accessible."

Times staff writer Sharon Bond and staff researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this report.

[Last modified March 4, 2005, 00:30:22]